Bioenvironmental Engineering

What does the Bioenvironmental Engineering career field do?

Applies engineering and scientific principles in anticipating, recognizing, and evaluating occupational and environmental health (OEH) hazards, also called OEH threats, in both garrison and deployed settings/environments. Helps design and recommend risk control measures and other courses of action that enable risk management decisions, and in some cases patient care strategies, to ensure force health protection. Related DoD Occupational Subgroup: 132200.

Duties and responsibilities

• Conducts preventative medicine studies and provides appropriate recommendations to reduce health risk(s) to installation personnel. Advises commanders at levels on the impact of unacceptable risk(s) to mission and provides viable courses of action to reduce and eliminate health risk.
• Enables data-driven decision making to ensure accurate OEH exposure documentation to support the occupational medicine enterprise.
• Identifies and approves potable and non-potable water sources. Analyzes local surface and ground water sources to determine the potability for both drinking and recreational purposes.
• Responds to accidents, natural disasters, and attacks by hostile forces. Performs and documents health risk assessments for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN), and physical hazards. Participates in installation contingency response activities/exercises.
• Guides the health risk assessment of exposure to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation; and ensures adherence to prescribed safety standards by evaluating activities involving the possession, handling, transportation, storage, use, and disposition of radioactive materials, as well as activities involving use of lasers and other non-ionizing radiation sources. Enables enhanced CBRN response capability for nuclear and radiological incidents.
• Employs professional knowledge to protect personnel and the environment from radiation hazards. Develop measures to control radiological hazards, including those encountered in unrestricted areas to ensure permissible limits of radiation exposure are not exceeded. Enables radiological monitoring, measurement, and control for the Nuclear Enterprise.
• Associate exposure(s) encountered in all settings (e.g. peacetime and wartime activities) with affected personnel. Document exposures of affected individual’s and at-risk populations using the approved OEH management information system to establish an individual longitudinal exposure record.

Specialty qualifications

Knowledge. Mandatory knowledge of basic, applied and advanced mathematics, basic chemistry, basic biology, physics. Knowledge is mandatory of basic, applied, and advanced mathematics, basic chemistry, basic biology, physics. Knowledge of all bioenvironmental engineering principles for force health protection spanning all operational environments.

Education. For entry into this specialty, completion of high school or general education development equivalency with successful completion of courses in Algebra I, Chemistry, Biology, and English composition courses are mandatory. Completion of high school courses in Algebra II and physics are desirable. Computer knowledge in the areas of data/file management, spreadsheet/presentation software (i.e. Excel and PowerPoint) usage, and communication via collaboration/workstream (i.e. TEAMS) platforms are also desirable.

Training. The following are mandatory for award of the AFSCs indicated:

• For award of AFSC 4B031, completion of the basic bioenvironmental engineering apprentice course is mandatory.
• For award of AFSC 4B071, attend and successfully complete the Occupational Health Measurements (OHM) course.

Experience. The following experience is mandatory for award of the AFSC indicated:

• AFSC 4B051. Qualification in and possession of AFSC 4B031. Also, experience conducting bioenvironmental engineering evaluations and surveys.
• AFSC 4B071. Qualification in and possession of AFSC 4B051. Also, perform and supervise health risk and vulnerability assessments, occupational & environmental health site assessments, and medical readiness requirements to include the preparation of all related correspondence, reports, and charts.
• AFSC 4B091. Qualification in and possession of AFSC 4B071. Experience managing occupational & environmental health risk assessments, surveillance, and medical readiness programs. Experience managing the overall administrative operations of the bioenvironmental engineering flight to include manpower and planning, programming, budgeting, and execution requirements.

Other. The following are mandatory as indicated:

• For entry, award, and retention of this specialty:
• No record of acrophobia or claustrophobia.
• Ability to speak English clearly and directly without speech impediment.
• Normal color vision and depth perception as defined in DAFMAN 48-123, Medical Examinations and Standards.
• Must maintain local network access IAW AFI 17-130, Cybersecurity Program Management and DAFMAN 17-1301, Computer Security.
• Medically qualified in accordance with Air Force Instruction 48-137, Respiratory Protection Program.
• For AFRC, only RegAF transfers with minimum entry AFSC of 4B051 are permitted.
• See attachment 4 of the DAFECD, Mandatory AFSC Entry Requirements, for additional entry requirements.

Civilian career paths

Comparable civilian careers for this field pay roughly $43,570–$94,240 per year (median salaries; varies by role and location):

• Broadcast Technicians: $43,570
• Business Continuity Planners: $77,420
• Climate Change Policy Analysts: $73,230
• Emergency Management Directors: $76,250
• Environmental Compliance Inspectors: $71,100
• Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians: $51,630
• Environmental Engineers: $92,120
• Environmental Restoration Planners: $73,230
• Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health: $46,850
• Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health: $73,230
• Financial Risk Specialists: $83,660
• Hazardous Materials Removal Workers: $45,270
• Health and Safety Engineers: $94,240
• Hydrologist:  $84,040
• Industrial Ecologists: $73,230
• Occupational Health and Safety Specialists: $76,340
• Occupational Health and Safety Technicians: $53,340